Sweet July
by PJO-Chick-HP
Summary: If another man can treat your girl better, should you just let him have her? That's the question Percy faced


_**A/N: Hello, First off I'd much like to apologize for my lack of writing. After reading back on my previous works, they looked rather sloppy and ill composed, so I'm starting fresh. Also, sorry if some of the facts are incorrect. I haven't read the series in quite a while so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Anyway thank you guys soo much if you're reading this, every reader means a lot to me and reviews(is that what it's called, or comment, well whatever doohickey you use to give me feedback, use it please) are even better. If there is any issues, please feel free to tell me. I welcome constructive criticism and even flames(mean reviews) are welcome, if they are helpful in the end. Lastly, enjoy.  
**_

_**~Kai Jones**_

P.S.- Sorry if the A/N was too long.

_**Sweet July**_

The day blazed to life, bringing the tired sun with it. Early birds sang their songs of sweet joy. For the moment, it was peaceful. For the moment, they were just normal kids, just normal people. Annabeth was the first to disturb the beauty of complete serenity. She rose from Percy's bed, stretching and yawning. He was gone of course, at the Roman camp dealing with the aftermath of a monster invasion, but she liked to pretend he was there. She liked to pretend that he had his arms around her, arms that had gotten harder after a summer of training with the Romans. The Romans. Their lands were beautiful, their architecture, divine. Even the people were alright, loyal and focused. They were tough and respectable, but they had her heart. They had her stupid Seaweed Brain locked in their grasp.

He wouldn't be back today, or tomorrow, or the next day. He wouldn't be here for fourth of July. Memories of past Independence Days whizzed by. One year, before they were together, before everything changed, they just sat on the far side of the beach and just watched the sky explode in lights and sound. She remembered thinking how infinite the moment seemed. Back then, it was easy to imagine Percy being by her side for a while, maybe a lifetime. Now the idea was a foreign concept. She sat hunched over on the side of his bed, lost in thoughts.

It was the first time in weeks she let herself sleep in his room, without him. She knew her siblings would notice her absence, but still the risk was worth it. Annabeth finally stood and walked over to the drawer Percy dedicated to her. Outside of Annabeth's thoughts, the camp was beginning to stir. The Aphrodite kids trudged to breakfast looking fresh and perfect, not a strand of styled hair out of place.

Piper was the only one who looked less than supermodel material. She had red rings around her eyes and pale cheeks. Leo scurried about camp, frantically looking for someone before finally spotting Piper. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her waist and guided her to breakfast, carefully swiping away loose strands of chocolate hair behind her ear. She sighed and leaned into his comfort, knowing that Jason was at his home, he was happy. She wondered why she couldn't do the same.

Annabeth finally made it to breakfast. She laughed at her families jokes, smiled at their stories. Annabeth smiled even though her heart was aching. She groaned at the uncharacteristically girlishness. Malcolm looked into Annabeth's face and knew his sister was not alright. Her golden tone was gone, replaced by a pallid frail girl. Her blonde curls lost their bounce. Her grey eyed gaze lost their focus. She wasn't Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, Savior of Olympus, Savior of the World. She was Annabeth Chase, broken by the world, broken by its people, a total wreck. And he couldn't take it. Malcolm rose, smiling apologetically at his sister having interrupted her in the middle of conversation, and marched over to the Artemis table, where Thalia sat with her Huntresses.

Thalia turned and rose a brow at the younger boy. He was slender with a mess of blonde hair and intelligent grey eyes.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Miss Thalia, Huntresses. I would just like five minutes of your time, it's Annabeth." Thalia stood sharply, forcefully grabbing Malcolm by the arm and dragging him from the pavilion. She shoved him roughly against a stone pillar.

"What about Annabeth? What are you talking about? Is she-" Thalia whispered, letting go of the him of his shirt.

"No, she isn't okay. I think it's Percy. She's alone. She's been alone ever since Gaea. And the fourth of July is coming up, you know how much she loves the fireworks. I just wanted to know if you can go to the Roman camp, maybe bring back Percy. If you're not up to it then-" He was abruptly cut off by Thalia's icy glare.

"I'll always be up for helping family. Now are you coming along with myself and the huntresses. You're the one with the idea."

"Sure. I'll just go inform Chiron and pack somethings and I'll meet you guys back here after lunch. How long will it take for Percy to arrive?"

Thalia backed away smirking, her electric eyes dancing. "Not long." She turned around and glided gracefully over to her huntresses. Malcolm turned his gaze away from the enchanting sisters' of Artemis and looked to his own sister. Annabeth was laughing, her head thrown back and her eyes squeezed closed. Her cheeks were red and her hands clutched at her stomach. Blonde curls dangled loosely, escaping from her loosely made bun, framing her face. Malcolm finally recognized the girl who had been sitting at his table for 6 weeks, as his sister and he smiled and joined the laughter.

Finally the demigods scattered out to their various classes. Piper and Leo split, Piper going to Ancient History while Leo went to Bunker 4. Annabeth went to the stadium and cleared her mind of all things Percy. She was going to be teaching young demigods the art of sword fighting, a skill that is often life or death in monster situations. Her boy problems have no place there. Annabeth walked into the stadium and was greeted with adoring faces. These demigods have obviously heard the stories, heard of her adventures. Of course she couldn't let them down.

"Hello campers. Everyone's ready to start?" She was answered with bobble-headed nods. "Any volunteers?"

A camper stepped up immediately. Annabeth immediately analyzed him, by the cocky set in his eyes she could tell he was an Ares boy. He was built, probably around 250 pounds. His hand gripped his sword loosely, probably for better wrist movement. It would be easy to twist the sword out of his hand. He probably would be slow, so quick feet would be essential. These were the thoughts that went through Annabeth's head in the second it took her to smile and nod.

The boy got into a defensive position, one that was sloppy and would be easily broken.

"So watch carefully guys, I'm going to knock him om his back and take his sword simultaneously." Annabeth announced, before turning back to her opponent and drawing her dagger.

The boy immediately lunged and Annabeth smiled slightly before side-stepping the attack easily. The boy lunged again and Annabeth jumped above him, using his back as an extra lift. His momentum caused him to fall heavily to the ground, knocking the sword from his hand. Annabeth gathered the sword and turned to meet her wide eyed students.

"One person will be the heavy attacker, the other the light one. Light attackers use their opponent's strength against them. Each person will get to be the light attacker once. Heavy attackers mostly lunge and swing. Don't be afraid. Trust your instincts. Partner up and get to work."

Annabeth turned and helped the defeated boy up while the students scrabbled about, choosing their partners.

"That was amazing." The boy begrudgingly stated, taking Annabeth's outstretched hand and pulling himself up. Annabeth noticed the friendly set of his eyes and the warm smile on his lips. He was around her age, with caramel hair and a melodic voice. He looked nothing like his brutal father.

"Thanks." Annabeth laughed, handing the boy his sword." You need a partner...?"

"Grant. Cyrus Grant." His large hand shook her smaller one and he took his sword back gladly "And yea I guess."

Annabeth immediately went into full detail on his defensive stance, getting distracted in her work. Cyrus followed all her instructions to the fullest degree, not stopping to take any breaks. Annabeth's class finally left after an hour of intense practice, but Cyrus still stayed and he learned. Lunch came and went without their knowledge. They laughed and they joked, they fell and they yelled. And finally after 6 hours of practice, Cyrus got the best of Annabeth, knocking her to the ground and taking her dagger. Her shoulders started shaking violently, worrying Cyrus to the point of almost calling for Chiron. When he rolled Annabeth over he found she was laughing. Her grey eyes were closed and her cheeks were red. She got up and hugged Cyrus, almost jumping with joy.

"That was perfect. The technique, flawless. It was kinda beautiful. I'm amazing I know." Annabeth laughed, ruffling Cyrus's sweaty hair and sighing.

"Yea, it's always sad when the student surpasses the master." Annabeth's laughter grew, swelling over her body. She bent at the waist, barely managing to conceal tears of laughter. She held her hand out for her still captive weapon. Cyrus returned it to her, a devious smile on his face

"Alright. Let's go again." She demanded lightly.

"Let's."

Cyrus got into his stance, which still had a single flaw. It wasn't better than Annabeth's. He lunged at her with his sword arching down towards her face. Her dagger was already there, meeting Cyrus's weapon in mid air. Her arms shook with strain as she started thinking of possible action plans. Finally she decided a kick to the stomach would do him good. She put the plan in action, but he saw it coming. He caught her foot and threw her back. Annabeth easily landed in a crouched position and waited for him to approach. Cyrus sprinted at her, sword raised and fire in his gaze. She could finally see the family resemblance.

Annabeth stood straight and waited until she could see the color in his eye. She sidestepped his lumbered form and sprinted at him as he turned around. He got into a defensive position, legs spread, sword ready. Annabeth dove underneath his spread legs and swung the hilt of her dagger down over his helmet as she jumped from her crouch.. His body collapsed sickeningly, almost rag doll like.

Annabeth gasped and leaned over his large form. "Cyrus. Cyrus get up." she whispered, rolling him over to face her. She pulled his helmet off and lightly probed his temples. He groggily opened his eyes and wondered if he were dead. There was an angel above him, golden hair spiralling out of her loosely bound bun, tickling his nose. Her grey eyes were full of worry. She grabbed her phone and shined the bright light into his eyes, sighing as his pupils dilated properly.

"Are you alright? Are you feeling dizzy? Any blindness? Headaches? I have something." A smushed amber square was shoved into his mouth. He chewed it hungrily and the world was clear tasted of brownies, Gramma Alice's specialty. He sat up and rubbed his head.

"Ow." He complained, grinning at Annabeth sheepishly.

"Sorry about that. I think we better pack it up." She stated, sighing and standing up.

"Aw, one more round. For old times sake? Come on Wise girl. You afraid of losing?

Annabeth froze. She would have known that voice if it spoke to her all the way from Brooklyn. She wondered faintly if she were hallucinating.

"Really Cyrus, I think we should go inside. We already missed lunch. And I'm pretty hungry." She had no appetite of course, she just needed to get out of here.

"Um...That wasn't me." Cyrus mumbled, standing up and dusting himself off.

"So you taught the kid to spar. I could do better. " The guy voice was a tenor, and when he laughed it seemed to take his whole body, starting deep within his stomach and spreading contagiously. Annabeth turned and was met with green glass reflecting back at her. He was close, close enough where she could smell his constant scent of salty sea breeze, but it was off. He smelled of a different sea, from a different place.

"I think you should go. I'm in a lesson Percy." Annabeth said, ice in her voice. Percy saw her differently. When he left, she was all sunshine. She had kissed him with soft pink lips, had hugged him with strong golden toned arms. He had ran his fingers through the blonde curls that had rested down her back, had looked into those gray orbs when they were laughing. He reached out, wanting to just hold her, for just a minute.

"She said you should go." Cyrus announced awkwardly. Annabeth would have laughed in a different situation. Cyrus reminded her of the Percy before he was involved in the Romans. Adorably loyal, and awkward, and sweet, and strong. Percy looked shocked,his green eyes widening. He backed up, staring at Cyrus with curiosity before turning and walking off. Immediately Cyrus turned and looked at her with apologetic hazel eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Annabeth. I didn't mean to jump into your business."

"Hey, It's fine. Thank you really. He wouldn't have left otherwise."

Cyrus grinned warmly at her and picked up her bag. He easily through it over his shoulder. Annabeth suppressed the urge to smile and walked behind him. They walked in comfortable silence, just enjoying the winding down of camp activities. The Apollo cabin was setting up the fireplace for dinner, the Demeter kids used their gifts on the strawberry fields. Cyrus stopped in front of the Athena cabin and opened the door, holding it as she stepped through. He handed her the heavy bag, which she threw gracelessly onto her bed.

"Thanks again Annabeth. " Cyrus said, his hazel eyes glinting in the dim of evening. His smile seemed to light up the night.

"Anytime Cyrus." She simply said, smiling goofily and closing the eyes slowly. She caught a glimpse of him trudging back to his cabin before dinner. His messy of caramel locks were all she could see, besides a grin that matched hers aimed at the ground. She sighed and turned to see angry gray eyes glaring down at her. The dimness of the room cast shadows underneath Malcolm's eyes, making him look sleep deprived.

"What the hell was that?" Malcolm snapped. Annabeth recoiled from the sharpness of his tone.

"What are you talking about? Cyrus?"

"No, the Gingerbread Man. "

"You can find him on Mulberry Lane..." Annabeth mumbled, trying to avoid the question that should have had a simple answer.

Malcolm looked at her with a stoic gaze. Annabeth matched it. They stood in locked glares before a younger sibling came in. He was around 6, with a fluffy blonde mane and blue gray eyes. He hopped over to her and hugged her leg, looking up at her smiling. A black hole and a dribble of dried blood were what she saw immediately.

"Ari, what happened honey?" She fussed, ignoring Malcolm for the moment and crouching down to the small boys level. His eyes danced with excitement and his chubby fist was balled up, concealing a secret.

"My tooth came out, Annie."

"Oh, maybe if you put it under your pillow, the tooth fairy will come and leave you some drachmas. Go on now. Dinner is coming up in a few." Annabeth smiled, ruffling his hair and gently pushing him out the door.

"Look, just don't do anything stupid with guys you don't even know. Alright? Promise me that." Malcolm fretted, sighing and giving up on the tough act. Now he just looked down at her, concern and brotherly affection coloring his gaze.

"Yes, brother. I'm Athena's Daughter. I'll be fine. Do you doubt that?" Annabeth questioned, a challenge in her eyes. Malcolm sighed, shaking his head and walking out the cabin, muttering something she couldn't make out.

Annabeth shrugged, grabbing her jacket and her Yankees cap before walking out the cabin as well, heading towards a long abandoned friend.


End file.
